Veterans Deserve to Make Their Own Healthcare Decisions

Every Veterans Day, Americans thank the 41 million men and women who have served in uniform since the nation’s founding. But the best measure of America’s gratitude comes after the day fades and the ceremonies end. After doing their part to keep America safe, veterans should be able to get the medical care they need, from a doctor they trust, without having to fight their way through a maze of government paperwork.

Unfortunately, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has failed far too many veterans with “frequently encountered obstacles” to care, “gross mismanagement of VA resources, criminal misconduct by senior leadership, systemic patient safety issues, and possible wrongful deaths.” It’s time for a different approach that doesn’t trap America’s Finest in a failed government-run healthcare system.

Veterans simply aren’t getting the care they need within the reasonable timeframe they deserve. As explained in a June 2026 report by the VA Inspector General (IG), “For a veteran to receive care, a VA provider must make a request on the veteran’s behalf by submitting a referral, which VA calls a consult.” Yet, an astounding 45 percent of consults for care within the system did not meet the three-day scheduling standard established by the agency. And, for about 14 percent of direct consults reviewed by the IG, “[t]he audit team found schedulers did not take any action for at least seven days—some even exceeding 90 days.”

Congress has responded to a slow and unresponsive VA by expanding options for private care.  The Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 expanded access to non-VA care for certain veterans facing long waits or lengthy travel. The VA MISSION Act of 2018 built on this progress by creating a new program to facilitate “hospital care, medical services, and extended care services to eligible veterans through non-[VA] health care providers.” Under current rules, veterans may qualify for outside care when the VA cannot offer a needed service, when wait or drive times exceed certain standards, or when community care is judged to be in their best medical interest. And, following the enactment of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act in 2025, veterans can obtain non-VA care when it is deemed to be in their best medical interest without having to go through additional rounds of agency review.

The VA reported paying more than $36 billion to community (non-VA) healthcare providers in fiscal year 2025, and private options have given veterans more choice and access to quality care than ever before. Yet, permission on paper to seek private care is not the same as practical access. The Government Accountability Office has found that the VA isn’t adequately managing community care referrals, while the VA’s IG has identified delays in handling requests for additional services.

One example identified by the IG is particularly frustrating. A veteran deemed eligible for non-VA care “was referred to a cardiology appointment on July 22, 2024. The first contact between a community care scheduler and the veteran was over three months later, on November 1.” Five days later, “the community provider informed the scheduler that the veteran received an appointment date of December 3—more than four months after the veteran requested services.” The schedulers interviewed by the IG “attributed this type of delay to staffing challenges and competing priorities.” Even if the veteran is technically eligible for private care, delays in government scheduling can make receiving care practically impossible.

Private providers face hurdles too. Practices face complex approval and billing requirements and must go through “complicated and often changing credentialing process that poses an administrative hurdle for smaller clinics.” When participation becomes too burdensome, the network of doctors available to veterans shrinks. Congress should demand a simpler, more predictable process for qualified providers to join and remain in the program, with prompt decisions and transparent payment procedures.

Additionally, lawmakers should give veterans greater freedom to directly choose among qualified participating providers, rather than making the choice depend primarily on (often slow and faulty) administrative routing. Patients should be able to compare options and promptly seek the care they need without having to worry whether VA staffers will move too slowly.

Veterans have more than earned their healthcare benefits. They should not have to ask permission every time they need a private doctor. This Veterans Day, politicians should let veterans—not bureaucrats—have the final say over their care.